THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2011
BIG 12
PAGE 7
A recap of games in the American heartland
ETHAN PADWAY
epadway@kansan.com
twitter.com/UDK_B12Fball
FINAL SCORE 45-40, TEXAS A&M
A late touchdown pass with 31 seconds left by quarterback Seth Doege brought the Red Raiders within a single score of Texas A&M, but it wasn't enough to overtake the Aggies. Doege outmatched counterpart Ryan Tannheh, throwing for 391 yards and three touchdowns, but losing running back Eric Stephens in the third quarter was too much for the Red Raiders to overcome.
FINAL SCORE 49-26. BAYLOR
Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III did not put on his usual passing display, he threw for only 212 yards and one touchdown, but he added 107 yards and a touchdown on the ground on 24 carries to help lift the Bears past the Cyclones. The real standout for the Bears was running back Terrance Ganaway, he ran for 200 yards and three touchdowns in the game.
(3) OKLAHOMA
FINAL SCORE 55-17. OKLAHOMA
After a close first quarter that saw Oklahoma lead 6-3, the rest of the 106th Red River Rivalry belonged to the Sooners. Sooner quarterback Landry Jones threw for 367 yards and three touchdowns, but the real spark came from the defense as Demontre Hurst picked off Longhorn quarterback David Ash in the second quarter and returned it 55 yards for the touchdown.
FINAL SCORE 24-17. KANSAS STATE
Two late fourth quarter touchdowns by Missouri brought the Wildcats' lead to seven points, but it wasn't enough as Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein ran for three touchdowns on the day to keep the Wildcats' record spotless.
BASEBALL
Grand slam ends in ALC series
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Two innings after Nelson Cruz crumbled to the ground writhing in pain, the slugger provided a grand finish for the Texas Rangers.
"That's the guy you want to see right now," Elvis Andrus said. "He's getting hot again. That's what we're looking for."
Cruz hit the first game-ending grand slam in postseason history, sending the defending AL champions to Detroit with a 2-0 lead in the American League championship series after a 7-3 victory over the Tigers in 11 innings Monday.
The high drive to left off Ryan Perry was the second home of the
game for Cruz, and his third in the ALCS after struggling so badly in the first round of the playoffs (1 for 15 with only a single against Tampa Bay).
He now has the Rangers on Cruz control in the ALCS. They are two wins away from their second consecutive World Series after having never won a postseason series before last year.
"When Nellie gets going like he's going, he's tough to beat," fan Kinsler said. "Hopefully he can continue that and carry us."
Game 3 is Tuesday night in Detroit. Colby Lewis, 4-0 in five career postseason starts, pitches for Texas against Doug Fister.
Lewis was on a flight ahead of the team, and was probably already in Detroit before the 4-hour, 25-minute marathon ended in Texas. Fister flew home with the rest of the Tigers.
Cruz doubled early and chased Tigers starter Max Scherzer with a tying home run in the seventh. Then he was hit near the right wrist by a Jose Valverde fastball in the ninth, when the Rangers blew a bases-loaded chance — same as Detroit had done in the top half of the iming.
"When I got hit, I thought it was worse," Cruz said. "In that situation, you want to stay in the game. Thank God I got a chance to win the game."
FOOTBALL
Injury ends season for running back
Texas Tech junior running back Eric Stephens is out for the season after dislocating his left knee in last weekend's 45-40 loss to Texas A&M.
Stephens was averaging 114 yards per game and was on pace to reach 1,000 for the season. He was a big part of coach Tommy Tuberville's effort to bring a more balanced offense to the pass-happy Red Raiders. He finished with 570 yards on 109 carries.
in this offense, we can get a 1,000 yards in this league. I can help us win games."
The team announced the news Tuesday.
"It's tough to lose a guy, the type of person he is, No. 1," Tuberville said. "He wanted to win games. But he wanted to show the team, 'Hey,
The options to replace Stephens include fifth-year senior Aaron Crawford, the 5-foot-10, 211-pounder who Tuberville said was as capable as Stephens in handling blocking assignments.
The Red Raiders (4-1, 1-1 Big
12) host No. 17 Kansas State (5-0,
2-0) on Saturday night.
"The problem with Aaron is staying healthy." Tuberville said. "He can be a 100-yard rusher a game, but he's got to get that mentality and understand that sometimes you're going to have to play through getting knocked around a little bit, because carrying the ball three times a game as compared to 15 or 20 is a whole lot different in this
league."
Crawford went in for Stephens after he was injured Saturday night. He finished with seven carries for 22 yards.
Texas Tech also has two true freshman —DeAndre Washington and Kenny Williams —available.
Stephens was the nation's 15th-ranked rusher. He went down late in the third quarter on a first-and-goal play, his left leg pinned after a hit from Aggies linebacker Damontre Moore.
The last time Texas Tech had a 1,000-yard rusher was in 1998 when Ricky Williams ran for 1,582 yards. Once former coach Mike Leach took over, the offense was weighted heavily toward the pass.
Associated Press